I run a computer-science lab at a university with about 50 workstations that dual boot Debian and Windows XP. Obviously the grub default is Windows but there are times where it would be extra useful if we could boot the machines straight to Linux, like when there is a Linux related class or we want to access the Linux partition when we boot them remotely.

Maybe this DeveloperWorks article can be helpful, describing how a "bootcontrol" setup that enables you to programmatically "Reboot to Linux" via GRUB's configfile directive and a config file on a shared partition... Another angle might be PXE-booting GRUB
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sr_Jun 3 '12 at 10:30

grub-choose-default looks promising, but I've never used it. Please try it, and report back if this works for you.
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GillesJun 3 '12 at 22:29

1 Answer
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You can setup a PXE server which serves PXELINUX with a configuration which chain loads a partition boot sector on the local disk. When you want to use Linux you would modify the PXELINUX configuration on the server and reboot the machines. The BIOS on the machines should be set to PXE boot first, and GRUB should be installed to the partition (not the MBR).